ExtraCareful's Soundtrack Pick(s) of the Week

Hey - after a long hiatus, it's time to wind this thing up again. It'll be synchronized again on Saturday starting this week, don't worry. So this week, the pieces are... No Buts! (Toaru Majutsu no Index II OP1) Mami Kawada See visionS (Toaru Majutsu no Index II OP2) Mami Kawada The Index seasons actually did NOT manage to disappoint (especially with Accelerator), which was a huuuuuge surprise given how ridiculously big and convoluted the "God's Right Seat" arc is. A lot of the music in the seasons and its related spinoff, the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun series is very enjoyable but its one flaw is that it all starts to sound the same with its electric guitar strums, random syncopated drum beats and so on and so forth. However, the OPs always manage to be pretty engaging while the EDs sorta die off and suck. For now, I'm going to look at the pieces that caught my attention in season 2. Here's OP number 1:

This is pretty good quality, loud, has lyrics too. Enjoy!

Favorite part is from 0:40-0:51. The thing I really like about the Index OPs is that they manage to use the drums and synth really well to drive the momentum up by doing the funky beats and then speeding it up. The main phrase that appears directly afterwards (0:55~1:06) is also pretty good - for some reason or another, although the girl is singing in that range, she doesn't come off as whiny, which is excellent.

And here goes OP number 2:

Pretty good quality. All videos have really quiet beginnings (due to the song) so I just have the loudest one here. Also, the part where Touma's running from everyone is very well done, synchronization-wise.

Personally, I really really prefer this over No Buts! but I added the OP1 as a bonus. It takes a whiiiiiiile to build up (which is its only flaw) but even the buildup is worth it. The steady drum beats really add to the mood and it has the usual vocal solo-instrumental variations but makes them more extreme. This song pulls out all the stops - guitar strums at the beginning and just crash and boom at the main phrase. Excellent. The running part (0:58~1:15) really complement the drumbeat/buildup part (1:16~1:23) which leads into the main (1:24~1:35) part smoothly. The key/chord change from 4:38~4:53 always makes me grin.

Overall, both are pretty repetitive, although not to the point of fripside. However, as I said, the themes are very engaging and it makes for some great running music. These two pieces help build up energy for the wild ride that is Index and deserve to be my Soundtrack Pieces of the Week.